Diwali Treats and the stories behind themd

This time I decided to do the sweets and snacks based on what I already had in the pantry. No special shopping.Then I went thru my favorite blogs and picked the recipes. Believe me...the list was huge. I had such a hard time in narrowing it down. Finally, I came up with 5 sweets and 1 snack item. They are:

Kesar Mawa Rolls:
I found this recipe from Sirisha who owns a great blog Ambrosia. This is the first time I tried a sweet with homemade khoya. I never knew that it was this easy. But I had a few pitfalls too. If you look at the original recipe you can see how the layers are distinct in color. But ,when I did mine i did not soak the saffron in milk for a long time. Moreover I guess mine needed a little more saffron. But the taste was great. A little like the cheesecake , a bit sticky to the palatte. This sweet laid the foundation for me to try the other khoya sweets with a better confidence in me.
Thanks Sirisha for all your guidance thru the comments. Truly appreciate it. The original recipe can be found here.
Next is..... Mango Coconut Truffles:
The original recipe was for Mango coconut burfi. Actually the first time I saw this recipe was in Asha's blog and I bookmarked it. Later when I decided to make it for Diwali I saw that it was originally Viji's recipe. So I combined both by using canned mango pulp and fresh coconut.
Check out Aroma of Asha's and vcuisine of Viji's versions.
I was following the recipe good, suddenly fate came in the form of my hubby. Out of no where he popped up to help me. When I was about to add sugar (1 1/2 cups) he stopped me at 1/2 a cup and said this would be perfect. He also gave me a big lecture on cooking with some common sense too. Finally I listened to him b'coz he had been my guru & critic in cooking. You know what happened in the end?
The burfi did not set. I could not make slices nor would it hold it shape as it did not have enough sugar in it. I even set it overnight in the fridge. Nothing much changed. My hubby said that we cannot serve it this way to the guests and he asked me to discard it.
OMG! How can I do it? The taste was out of the world and the aroma was unbelievable. I had to save it somehow.

So, This is what I came up with. I greased my palms with ghee and made the mango burfi into mini balls. Then I rolled them in powdered sugar so that they don't stick to the serving dish. Finally I garnished with a bit of pistachio and also came up with a new name....Mango Coconut Truffles. I served it chilled.
You won't believe it. This was the super-hit item in the party. Everbody enjoyed it and never knew that something was wrong with it. And, I was really proud of myself to have used my common sense to save the dessert although it was ruined by Mr. Perfect.

All along the preparation I was informing Viji ka about my mistakes. So, she took pity on me and emailed me her Almond peda recipe just for me although she hadn't posted it in her blog yet.
I was so happy to see the simplicity of the recipe . So the next sweet was almond peda.

Almond Pista Peda:

Here is another recipe that I got from Viji. It was so easy to prepare and it turned out really good. I did it without any disturbances as I was alone. Using my knowledge of handling khoya when I did mawa kesar rolls i handled this like a pro. Everyone thought that it was store-bought. I did not make plumpy pedas as Viji's as I had a lots of sweets and didn't want people to feel full with just one. (All the sweets were done for the Diwali party we had at our friends place. It was not a potluck. Infact the dinner was ordered from outside. but I just made these to share it withmy friends and all of you.)
Gulab Jamuns:
I made this with the MTR mix. Most of you might think what's so special about doing jamons with mix. But you what? So many things matters. The jamons should be the perfect shape, fried to the right consistency, soaked enough in the sugar syrup and all that. I've done jamuns so many times in the past and it had always been a success. But this time....OOPS. It went wrong.

I was already late for Kavin's gym classes. So I fried the jamuns and dropped them in hot sugar syrup. I mean really hot syrup. With 10 to 15 mins the jamons absorbed the syrup and they looked supersoft and spongy. In my mind I was imagining all the compliments I was going to get from my hubby.
After that I left for the classes. On my return, I tried to tranfer the jamons to a serving bowl. Alas, the disaster happened. All the jamons started loosing their shape and just melted just like that and the I ended up in one big mess. I was so mad. I wanted to scream at myself for being so idiotic. I couldn't fix it at all. I tried saving a few but it wasn't that great. I couldn't save it in anyway.

With a heavy heart I threw away everything and did a fresh batch taking enough care all the way through. This out turned perfectly good and it made up my heart for the jamons I lost. So, next time guys...don't think jamons from mixes are damn easy. Everything has to be done in a certain way to get it right.

Next was...Chocolate Pista Rolls from Viji's:
I know, I have done 3 of her recipes this time. I wanted to try something else, but the chocolate had got me pinned to it. I had no other go. This also turned out great and I also shapped them into balls and placed the pista stuffing inside. Also, I did the chocolate khoya once again and rolled them with the plain khoya to make a marbled effect. Altogether it was good and it was specially "B"'s fav.
For the original recipe go here.
The snack was Pottukadalai Murukku:
It's been years since I made this. So, I had a hard time in searching for the murukku aachu. Finally when I found it ,the star plate was stuck to the aachu. I couldn't change anyother plate whatsoever. That's why I did only one item this time.
This is my friend's Valli Meyyapan's recipe. She is not a blogger but is a good cook. We were neighbours when we were in Michigan. This recipe of hers has always been a hit in my house. Hope you like it too.

Diwali Breakfast:
Usually we have idlli and brinjal gosthu for our diwali breakfast. But this time I donno , I couldn't find time to get the batter done. My hubby was a little disappointed with that b'coz this is what he had been eating traditionally on every diwali for as long as he could remember. So, I had to do something that is equally good.

Luckily I found the 'Rava Dosa' recipe from Prema's cookbook. Thanks to her, my hubby really really enjoyed it so much that he kept eating it in jet speed not allowing me to take even one pic. Finally I took one, but by that time the chutney was all gone. Still he finished it off with some sugar. I just got to taste just one piece of it. But I was glad that it made up for the idlli-gosthu breakfast.Thanks Prema once again. (The picture is not that great. But it tasted so good. Will update this post with a good pic soon).
Anyhow, the celebration was great and all the guests enjoyed everything. I was also satisfied with the net result although I had a little bit of downfalls here and there. I know, that it is a long post. Just wanted to share with you what all I went thru in the process of preparing everything. Sorry for boring you guys.
Will continue with my normal posts and reply back to all of your comments soon. Thank you all for inspiring my Diwali. I had so many other items on the list, but didn't find time.
Will do it all for the next festival.

Sprouts Salad, Dates Milkshake & Ginger Tea

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Sprouts Salad:
Ingredients:
Green moong dal- 1 cup (sprouted)
carrot- grated
green chillies- 1 1 /2 (minced)
red onions- 1 tbsp (fine pieces)
corriander leaves- 2 tbsp
peanuts- 1 tbsp (broken)
salt- as reqd
lemon juice- 1 tbsp

The other ingredients you can add to this are: Finely chopped boiled potatoes, cucumber, corn, tomatoes, yogurt, corriander-mint chutney, sweet tamarind sauce. Keep your mind open and try out anything else listed above.



Procedure:
Soak mung beans overnight. Drain the water and keep it wrapped in a wet towel. Then close it with a vessel and leave it aside for one full day. The next day the mung beans would sprout beautifully. I do not like to eat it raw, so I partially steam it. You can skip this step if you want to. Anyhow, this is the way I make it.
I add steamed sprouts to the rest of the ingredients and mix well. You can add yogurt too but I'm skipping that as I going to send the same to the 'Vegan' event too.

Date's Milk Shake:

I'm going to send this to Chandrika of Akshyapatra who is hosting AFAM: Dates. Milkshakes are always my favorite especially this one which my mom used to prepare during my school and college days. I would devour this in a flash b'coz my mom would say that helps in hair growth due to the iron content in it. But I don't think it helped me at all. You should see my head now (almost bald). Anyway, the taste is really good. Try it for yourself and you'll see.
Ingredients:
Chopped Dates- 1 cup
sugar- as per taste
chopped pistachios- 2 tbspmilk- 3 cups

Procedure:
Boil milk and after sometime bring to a simmer, add dates and cook till soft (5 to 8 mins) in a low flame. Cool this and reserve a few tbsp of pulp aside. Blend the rest with milk and sugar. You can make it thinner or thicker depending upon the amount of milk you use. Finally mix in the pulp and nuts. Give a good stir and serve it chilled .



Finally, it is GINGER TEA:

This is for the the "Think spice... Think... Ginger" event hosted by Sunita of Sunita's World. Initially, I was wondering if this would be apt to send it for the event but, after seeing the same at Nags's blog I decided to post the same . So, here is a refreshing cup of ginger tea with some Banana bread.

Ingredients:
Milk- 1 cup
taj mahal tea leaves- 1 1/4 tsp
water- 1/4 cup
ginger- 1 1/2 " (grated)
cardamom- 1 (broken)
sugar- as reqd

Procedure:
Boil water with tea leaves. cardamom and ginger for 5 minutes. Then add milk and bring it to another boil. Add required sugar and mix well. Filter this and serve this steaming cup of hot ginger tea for a refreshing morning.

White pumpkin Halwa / Kasi Halwa

When I was a little girl I used to enjoy my granny's Kasi halwa so much. It would be a melt-away moment in my mouth. My mom never attempted this as my granny was doing it anyway. Now it is 6 years since my granny passed away. And when I called my mom last week she told that she made kasi halwa following granny's procedure and that it tasted exactly the same. I didn't believe it fully as I know that my mom never tried it earlier. Still, I went ahead and got the recipe. The same night as 'B' was having dinner with his friends I decided to give the recipe a try as I had lots of time in my hands.
It didn't take long. Within 1/2 an hour the halwa was done. By the time it was over 'B' arrived home. He gave a look as though...why do you want to attempt halwa? It requires practice to do it. Anyway, I went ahead and served him the plate you see in the picture. Within minutes, I got so many wow's from him. For 'B' it was the first time he was tasting it , so he thought it was the best. As for me, I know how it is supposed to taste. So, I was really hoping that it tasted exactly as granny's.
Then the moment came...I took a spoonful and tasted it. Guess what happened. Before that.... Have you guys seen the "Ratatouille" movie? If so, you would know the 'Ego' food critic. Just like him, the moment I tasted my kasi halwa I was transported back to my childhood days in a flash. I had some happy tears in my eyes to see that I could recreate the same taste.

Many of you might be doing this regularly in your house and wonder why is she bragging so much for a pumpkin halwa. But for me, it is one of the special dishes made by my granny and it's been so many years since I had it. So, here is the recipe I enjoyed so much. I hope you do too.

Ingredients:
White Pumpkin- 2cups (grated)
sugar- 1 1/2 cups (increase or decrease as per taste)
ghee- 3 tbsp
cardamom- 3
milk- 1 cup
saffron- one pinch
red food color- a pinch
cashews and raisins- 1 tbsp each (or more if needed)

Procedure:
Peel off the outer skin from the pumpkin and grate it. Squeeze out the excess water from the gratings. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a kadai and add the gratings and broken cardamom. Saute until any remaing water is absorbed. Add sugar and stir well. Now add milk and cook on low flame till the gratings are cooked soft and all the milk is absorbed. Now the halwa should be in a semi solid stage. Add ghee little by little stirring till you get the halwa continuously. Then add the fried nuts, raisins ,saffron and color powder. When the halwa leaves the sides of the pan switch off the stove. Serve this warm or at room temperature. I like mine warm. Here is a bite for you too!

Breaking the Break with a Cake

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Coming to the cooking part, I have been doing it everyday but rarely took pictures of it. Anyway, here is my first cake that I baked for "B" for his b'day. He is not a big fan of frostings. So I chose this pineapple upside-down cake and I followed the recipe from my Southeren Living Cookbook. The cake turned out really good and we enjoyed every single bite of it. It tasted exceptionally good with some ice cream on the side. For a amature baker like me this recipe turned out to be a great success. I hope you try it too if you haven't baked this cake before.

Ingredients:
Butter or margarine- 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1 cup (firmly packed)
pineapple slices - 3 (8 1/4 oz) cans undrained
Pecan halves- 10 ( I did not use it as I didn't have it)
maraschino cherries- 11 (cut into halves) (use more like me if you want to)
large eggs - 2 (seperated)
egg yolk- 1
sugar- 1 cup
All-purpose flour - 1 cup
baking powder- 1 tsp
ground cinnamon- 1/2 tsp
salt- 1/4 tsp
vanilla extract- 1 tsp
cream of tartar- 1/4 tsp

Procedure:
This recipe calls for using a cast-iron skillet. But I had only cake pans so I went ahead and used it. First you melt the butter in microwave and pour it in the cake pan. Spread it evenly. Then sprinkle brown sugar and press it to the bottom.
Drain Pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup juice. Set juice aside. Arrange pineapple slices in the pan as desired. You can keep it whole or cut it up. Place a cherry half in the center of each pineapple rounds. Other than that you can arrange cherries as you like.
Beat 3 egg yolks at high speed with an electric mixeruntil thick and pale. Gradually add sugar and beat well. Combine flour and the next 3 ingredients. Stir well. Add to egg mixture alternately with reserved 1/4 cup pineapple juice. Stir in vanilla.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold beaten egg whites into batter. Spoon batter evenly over pineapple in the cake pans. Bake at 350 deg for 45 to 50 mins or until the cake is set. You can tell that the cake is done when you see that the toothpick you insert in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Rest the cake for 10 mins and then invert it. Pour any remaining glaze on the top of the cake. Cut it into wedges and enjoy it while it is still warm with some cold vanilla ice-cream.
I hope not to take a break anymore. But I'm going to limit my blogging hours as I don't want to sit in my couch all the time. I'll visit all of your blogs in the weekend and make up for the lost time. Take care guys and have a great weekend

KAJU KATHLI and DRY FRUIT LADOOS.

KAJU KATHLI:Ingredients:

Cashews- 1 cup
Sugar- 3/4 cup
Water- 1/4 cup
Milk- 3 tbsp
Ghee- 1 tsp
Silver leaves- optional

Procedure:

Grind the cashews to a really fine powder using a coffee grinder. Mix water, milk and sugar and heat it in medium-high flame. Wait for one string consistency. (Keep some water in a small plate. If you put some sugar syrup in it , the syrup should not dissolve. I mean it should lay there like a fine thread.)
After this add the cashew powder and keep mixing it until you get a nice soft dough. If you feel that the dough is dry or too thick you can add some milk to it. Don't worry. You will not encounter this problem. Still, I just wanted to mention it incase you run into trouble. Adding milk reduces the shelf-life but I don't think this sweet will last that long.

You can tell that the dough is ready by testing it with your fingers. I mean, when you take some cashew dough in between your fingers and roll it, it should form a ball.
Next, take a greased plate and put the cashew dough on it. Spread it like a chappathi using a rolling pin to the desired thickness. Alternatively, you can spread it on a clean countertop too. Finally spread the silver warg on the top and cut it into diamonds.

If you see my picture, you can notice that some of the kathlis are thick and some are thin. The reason is I used a wrong plate to spread the cashew dough. When you try it make sure that the base is even.


Next is the DRY FRUIT LADOOS:
Ingredients:

Cashews- 1 cup
Almonds - 1 cup
Raisins - 1 cup
Dates - 1 cup
Edible gum - 1 cup
coconut- 1 cup
ghee- 1/2 to 3/4 th cup
sugar - 1 cup
water- 1/4 cup

Procedure:
Roast the cashews and badam with a tsp of ghee for a few minutes (3 to 4 mins). Next roast the edible gum with a tsp of ghee to a nice golden color. Take care not to burn it. Roast it in a medium-low flame. Dry roast the coconut to a golden brown color and crumble it into fine pieces.Finely chop the almonds, cashews, raisins and dates. The finer the better. This will help in shaping them into balls.

Mix water and sugar and bring it to a boil. Wait till the syrup reaches a two string consistency. Next dump in all the ingredients and mix it all really really well until it clings together. Wait for 5 mins. Grease your hands with some ghee and shape them into small balls while it is still hot.

Note:
It requires some expertise to shape them into ladoos. I tried it but I couldn't as it was too hot for my hands. Finally my MIL came to my resuce and she shaped them all. If you find it hard to shape them you can eat it as it is too. Tastes super good and highly nutritious.